BP decries Deepwater Horizon film as inaccurate

Actor Mark Wahlberg (L) poses alongside Mike Williams as he arrives at the European premiere of "Deepwater Horizon" at Leicester Square in London, Britain September 26, 2016.Dylan Martinez

LONDON (Reuters) - BP has criticized the new "Deepwater Horizon" film as being an inaccurate Hollywood dramatization of the deadly oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

"The Deepwater Horizon movie is Hollywood's take on a tragic and complex accident. It is not an accurate portrayal of the events that led to the accident, our people, or the character of our company," Geoff Morrell, BP senior vice-president of U.S. communications & external affairs, said in a statement on the British oil and gas company's website.

"Deepwater Horizon," which is released in the United States on Friday, focuses on the hours before and after the explosion from a well blowout on the BP rig in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, leading to the worst offshore oil disaster in U.S. history. Eleven workers were killed and millions of barrels of oil spewed onto the shorelines of several states for nearly three months.

BP, which has had to pay over $55 billion in clean-up costs and fines, said the film "ignores the conclusions reached by every official investigation: that the accident was the result of multiple errors made by a number of companies."

Actor Mark Wahlberg, who plays an oil engineer who survived the disaster, said the film aimed to honor the 11 men killed in the accident.

Other than BP, rig operator Transocean and services contractor Halliburton were also found to be at fault .

"Coming as it does six-and-a-half years after the accident, the movie also does not reflect who we are today, the lengths we've gone to restore the Gulf, the work we've done to become safer, and the trust we’ve earned back around the world." BP said in the statement.

(This story has been refiled to include name of BP spokesperson in paragraph two.)